BR 2-02: Backstage Pass

You know you shouldn't touch Stevie Helix's guitar, but you can't stop yourself. You look around again, then you grab it. The guitar feels so good in your hands—like it was made for you! Maybe you can play just one song…You look at the costume cart. It has costumes for the backup musicians. I'll put on a costume, you think. Then people will think I'm a backup guitarist, and they will leave me alone.

In this book, I go to a Martians gig with my friend, Julie. She arranges a diversion so that I can go backstage. And when I do go, I borrow Stevie Helix's guitar without permission! What will happen if a security guard sees me?

Backstage Pass, by Lesley Ito (Atama-ii Books)

I hear that one of the backup guitarists is ill. Maybe I will get my chance?
As with the other Atama-ii books, there are several points in the story where you have to make important choices. If you make the wrong choices, you could end up in prison, or even dead. Other times, nothing bad happens, but things don't go so well, or there is a boring ending.

Vocabulary

riff: 反復楽句, a short, repeated instrumental piece of a longer song
jam: to play music together casually

Ito, L. (2014). Backstage pass. Florida: Atama-ii Books.

Backstage Pass (アタマイイシリーズ Book 4) (English Edition) 著者 : Lesley Ito Atama-ii Books 発売日 : 2015-09-21 ブクログでレビューを見る»

Movies in summer and autumn

Every year seems to have movie cycles. In the US, movies that are aiming for Academy Awards tend to be released in the autumn. Other movies that aim to get very large audiences are often released in the summer vacation or just before the winter vacation.
The difference between US and Japan release dates makes things a bit complicated. Some of the very biggest movies are released at the same time in both countries. But smaller movies tend to be released several months later in Japan. In the first half of the year, movies showing in Japan are often movies that won Academy Awards for the previous year.
Anyway, there are usually some big movies showing in both the winter and summer vacation, both Hollywood movies and local productions. Sometimes, the same movies show for a very long time on a large number of screens, meaning that there is a lack of variety.
This past summer, Wonder Woman was one of the biggest movies. I enjoyed it, though I do have a bit of superhero movie fatigue now. I think Fanny's Journey was actually more enjoyable. This autumn, It and Wind River are two of the Hollywood hits. I'm not sure when they are coming to Japan, though.
[205 words]

BR 2-01: Brainstorm

For this operation, you will use your new nanobots, the Mark 5 series. The Mark 5's are the newest and most powerful nanobots in the world.
The Mark 5's can find and fix sick cells by themselves. They can even make more nanobots if some are damaged.
The operation room is locked.…Nanobots are too small to see, so you must be careful. If they got out into the world, it could be a problem.

I am a famous scientist, and I have invented nanobots used in surgery to cure patients. But something strange happens when I perform an operation: the nanobots start multiplying rapidly. I need to decide whether to terminate the operation or try to get control over the multiplying nanobots. Then I find different kinds of nanobots. Where are they from? If the creators find out that I know, will I be safe? As with the other stories in this series, there are many difficult choices to make. Your fate is in your own hands!
(173 words)

Vocabulary

nanobot: a very small robot (nano = 十億分の1)
self-destruct: to destroy oneself

Boon, A. (2015). Brainstorm (Atama-ii Books). Tokyo, Japan: Atama-ii Books.

My summer vacation

In the summer vacation, I didn't really have much holiday. I had some intensive courses to teach, so I spent much of my time preparing for them and teaching them. One of the courses was a two-week intensive English course at PUK and in Aso. The course was fun, but it was rather tiring.

I didn't go anywhere for a trip, but I did have a conference in Matsue in Shimane. It was a very pleasant town, and I found time to take a boat trip.

I also found time to see a couple of movies: Wonder Woman, Fanny's Journey, and Dunkirk. You have probably heard of Wonder Woman, another superhero movie but this time with a female star. It was very good, but I'm a little tired of superhero movies.Fanny's Journey is a French movie set near the end of the Second World War. It's about some children who run away from the German invaders to get to Switzerland, which is a neutral country and safe for them. Dunkirk is another Second World War movie, about British and French soldiers trying to get away from the German army on the French coast to England. [193 words]

NOTES

If you forget your student card, please get a paper from the kyoumuka and bring it to me on the day in question or in the following week's class. I will adjust the attendance records I get from the kyoumuka accordingly.

Note that posts after August 8th can be counted in Aug/Sept/Oct.

Types of posts

Book reviews

As a general guideline, you should read a book and write a review every week for homework. (Sometimes, we may write an extra one in class.) The total required is about 15. Since you have had lots of practice writing book reviews, you are expected to write better reviews. Include a properly formatted quotation, a picture of the cover, and a properly formatted reference (Who. When. What. Where.). (Note that there is a period after each of the 4 elements as well as one space between elements.)
If you forget to do book reviews in September/October/November, you can catch up in December or January, but you will need to write much more, because of the month multiplier:
September/October book reviews will be counted as 1.5 each;
November book reviews as 1;
December book reviews as 0.75;
and January book reviews as 0.5.

If you are worried about your grade, write more and better book reviews:

1. Write a longer quotation, being careful to copy accurately;
2. Write more about your opinion regarding the book, being careful to use your own words and avoiding “hidden quotations”.
3. Include a vocabulary list. 

Diary (not “Dairy”!) posts

As a general guideline, you should write something about your daily lives once a week.

Juppun ha Juubun

We will continue to do this at the beginning of the class. Please continue to track the number of words you have been writing.

Writing exercises

We will sometimes do writing exercises in class. Even when the exercises are on paper, you can write some of them in your blog.

Dictogloss/Relay dictation

We will do these in class sometimes. The purpose of these exercises is to give you models to use in your own writing. Please make the effort to remember some of the phrases.

Typing homework

If you didn’t finish the typing homework during the summer vacation, try to do it as soon as possible. This will reduce the amount of work you need to do in the middle and at the end of the semester. More importantly, it will speed up your typing, making other assignments easier to do.

Essays

There will be some essay assignments during the semester. You will write each essay in stages. These stages may include writing lists or short paragraphs and responding to comments. These stages are very important for enabling you to write a competent essay.

CAUTIONS

In the spring semester (Writing III), several students failed or came close to failing. (This year was the first time that has happened.) Here are some minimum requirements to avoid the same result this semester:

1. Write at least 3 posts a week;
2. Make sure that you have more than 10 posts each month (August/September/October is considered one month;
3. Write at least 8,000 words in total this semester;
4. Make sure you don’t fail during and after the 託麻祭 period. In past years, students who have failed have stopped blogging or stopped attending class during that time.

Note that these are minimum requirements. For example, 10 posts a month is not satisfactory performance. But fewer than 10 posts in any month is likely to cause you to fail.

121 words

2nd semester schedule

1: September 25th

2: October 2nd

3: October 9th

4: October 16th

5: October 23rd

6: October 30th

7: November 13th

8: November 20th

9: November 27th

10: December 4th

11: December 11th

12: December 18th

13: December 25th

14th: January 15th

15th: January 22nd